Connor Wickham nodded home on the stroke of half-time to give England's Under-21s a narrow lead over Northern Ireland in their friendly at Bloomfield Road.
The home side were on top for most of the opening 45 and almost had the lead in the 16th minute when Wickham lashed Jack Robinson's cutback against the crossbar.
Thomas Ince, playing at his home ground in Blackpool, also came close but his shot was pushed away by Connor Devlin.
It looked that the two sides would go in level at the break until added-on time, when Wickham rose highest to meet Jordan Henderson's set piece.
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